In recent years, more and more people are using their mobile stations as more than a communication device. For example, even most basic cellular telephones today now include cameras to take both still pictures and motion video and many are capable of playing audio and video files. Cellular telephones and other types of mobile stations are used to surf the internet, and maintain contacts, calendars, etc. Mobile stations have become an indispensable tool to a growing number of people and are typically always with the user wherever they travel. People are demanding more and more functionality out of their mobile stations to get the most out of a single device.
Additionally, more and more people own cars and drive longer and longer distances for both work and pleasure. To recover revenues, more and more municipalities and government agencies are placing tolls on the roads, bridges, and tunnels. However, as the number of cars traveling increases, traffic increases on the toll roads, and a traditional toll collection plaza becomes a bottle neck for traffic flow. To address this problem, the agencies have introduced various automatic electronic toll collection systems. These systems reduce the dependence on a manual attendant for the collection of tolls that the vehicle operator must present at toll collecting locations. For the system to function, individually coded electronic transponders must be supplied for mounting to the vehicle. One such system, known as the E-Z PASS is coded to provide an electronic signal unique to a particular vehicle. The vehicle owner obtains the transponder device from the appropriate authority and mounts it in the vehicle. A separate transponder device is needed in, and uniquely assigned to, each vehicle. However, implementation is expensive. Absent the one time construction cost, an ongoing cost to the agency is the need for supplying the hundreds of thousands of transponder units for the individual vehicles. Plus, as more and more drivers sign up for the program, the agency must keep up a constant supply of new transponders. One difficulty in supplying the toll collection transponder with the vehicle, is that each transponder must be registered with the particular agency and different agencies use different toll collection technologies.
Hence a need exists for a device that is already ubiquitous to take on the additional function as a toll collection transponder.